Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (Feb. 24, 2018) - The quest for a second straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament championship came up just short for the North Central College men's basketball team on Saturday, as the Cardinals saw a gritty comeback effort thwarted by the ninth-ranked Augustana College Vikings, who escaped with a 77-74 victory at the Carver Center Saturday evening.
The Cardinals (19-8) trailed by nine points, 75-66, with 2:30 remaining and closed the gap to a one-possession contest as they came down the floor for the final time, but were unable to get a clean look from three-point range before time expired.
The homestanding Vikings led throughout much of the contest, but frequently saw North Central battle back to narrow the gap. Alex Sorenson's three-pointer with 6:43 left in the first half gave the visitors a 23-22 lead before a three-minute scoring drought enabled Augustana to take a 29-23 edge with 3:54 on the clock. The Cardinals kept the hosts from scoring the rest of the period, cutting the margin to 29-28 by halftime after a three-pointer by Mike Pollack.
The second half saw an effort befitting a championship game by both sides, each team shooting better than 60 percent from the floor. The Cardinals trailed, 56-47, with 10:56 to play when they switched to a zone defense in an effort to slow Augustana down, and forced four straight turnovers to get back into the game. Attacking off the dribble from the top of the key on most of the ensuing possessions, Connor Raridon led the Cardinals' comeback effort by scoring six of the game's next eight points as the lead shrank to 56-55. The teams traded baskets until consecutive three-pointers by Brett Benning and Chrishawn Orange opened the margin up to 77-71.
Raridon captained North Central's final rally as well, getting to the free-throw line on two straight possessions and sinking all four charity shots, and driving for a layup which cut the lead to three with under a minute to play. He finished with a game-high 22 points on 6 of 12 shooting from the floor and a 10 of 11 effort at the line. Pollack put up 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting off the bench and Sorenson totaled 13 points and eight rebounds.
Micah Martin led the Vikings with 18 points, while Benning scored 14, A.J. Dollmeyer hit for 11 and Nolan Ebel added 10.
Pairings and first- and second-round host sites for the 2018 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championships will be released Monday at 11:30 a.m. Central time at ncaa.com.
